Chances
by Cervella
Summary: With one arm stuck up to her shoulder in a vending machine, Aiko Nijima wondered who had recommended her for the country's most prestigious high school for heroes and if they were already regretting their decision. She was unskilled, talentless and utterly hopeless, but that wouldn't stop her from becoming the heroine she never wanted to be.
1. A Rocky Start

Hey there :) This has been sitting in my files for ages now, so even though I'm not sure where I'm going with this, I wanted to get it out in the open. I guess this is a thing I might be writing now? I've always wanted to write a story for BNHA and definitely one that is Todoroki-centric, so there'll be lots of chapters from his perspective in the future. I'd make this a reader-insert, but I'm bad at writing those and I enjoy creating new characters. Maybe I'll continue it, maybe I won't ... all I know is that it's more likely to happen if you like this story. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the read! :)

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**Chances**

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**Chapter One: A Rocky Start**

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With one arm stuck up to her shoulder in a vending machine, Aiko Nijima wondered who had recommended her for the country's most prestigious high school for heroes and if they were already regretting their decision. To be fair, it was the machine's fault for swallowing up her precious money while not holding up its own end of the bargain; the can of iced coffee that was silently taunting her from behind the glass.

She had trusted the drink dispenser and it had back-stabbed her.

If only her arm was five centimeters longer, she thought as she tried to ram it up further into the villainous contraption, trying to reach the can with sheer willpower. Class would start soon, so she didn't have much time left and being late simply wasn't an option. UA Academy had a hellish reputation, which, among other things, included expelling students if they were slacking.

Aiko checked her cellphone and blanched when she saw the time. She had five minutes left until homeroom started.

It wasn't an easy decision to make, but she had to give up on the coffee if she wanted to be on time. Reluctantly, she accepted defeat and internally complimented the vending machine on its victory. It got her this time, but next time would be different. With a last sorrowful glance towards her can of coffee—_so close yet so far_—she carefully maneuvered her arm out of the metal box … or that's how the story should've ended in her books.

Somehow, she had managed to get stuck.

And trying to twist her arm towards the opening only made it hurt more. Sweat rolled down her forehead and a nervous smile broke out on her face.

_She was doomed, wasn't she?_

Aiko would never ever admit this to anyone, but she was aware that she brought this situation upon herself. If she hadn't spent the night tossing and turning, having an internal meltdown because going to a new school was scary on so many levels, she wouldn't have had to distract herself with video games and woken up in time.

Of course, she had been too comatose to hear her alarm, which lead to a chain reaction of bad events.

In order to catch the last train Aiko had been forced to skip her daily cup of coffee and the breakfast that her grandfather had been kind enough to prepare for her. Of course, Nijima-ojisan hadn't passed up on the opportunity lecture his ungrateful granddaughter while she had been rushing through their family's dojo like a whirlwind in search for her UA security pass. At the very least, she had managed to catch the train after a panicked sprint through crowds of bewildered pedestrians.

Aiko should've known that it was too good to be true when she found a vending machine on campus that carried her favorite caffeinated drinks.

_Why did she have to get her arm stuck in it?_

Well, she could use her quirk to get herself out, but sometimes her ability could cause more harm than good, so she'd rather not risk it. Sure, it might get her to class on time and hand her the iced coffee on a silver platter, but there was the very real possibility that the vending machine … well … wouldn't function as well afterwards and she was pretty sure damaging school property wouldn't leave a good first impression.

She considered crying for help, but quickly dismissed the idea.

It would be kind of pathetic to turn into a damsel in distress on her first day as an upcoming heroine, not to mention the embarrassing nicknames that would haunt her until the very last day of school. On the other hand, she really shouldn't waste her thoughts on graduation when she couldn't even make it to her classroom.

Aiko let her head fall against the glass with a sigh, golden hair bobbing with the sudden movement. She should've gone with her gut feeling and just stayed in bed. Gazing blankly at the empty hallway that only missed a tumbleweed for comedic effect, she silently prayed for a miracle—anything that would get her out of this predicament.

Someone must've heard her prayer because Aiko heard shuffling behind her and suddenly the empty hallway wasn't so empty anymore.

A human-sized yellow caterpillar was inching towards her with a speed that caterpillars honestly shouldn't possess. Frightened, the girl shrieked and backed up against the cool metal of the vending machine. In her defense, most people would be scared if some monster was creeping towards them, even though mutation quirks had become common among the general public.

In case the monster caterpillar decided to attack, she was hoping to use the vending machine as cover or weapon. It was surprising how fast one's previous enemy can turn into one's greatest ally when faced with a mutual threat. However, she didn't have to form an alliance with her former metallic foe since the caterpillar stopped right in front of her.

"You should be in class, Nijima."

_I-It talked!? And wait, it knew her name?!_

Aiko could only watch in stunned silence as the yellow being shuffled around—maybe it prepared to turn into a butterfly—only to reveal a human face of all things. More specifically, it was the deadpan face of a sleepy looking thirty-year-old man with shaggy black hair and stubble framing his chin. He seemed familiar for some reason, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Um," the freshly baked high school student started eloquently. " … I'm stuck."

Meanwhile it, or rather he, kept staring at her expectantly and sucked on an apple-flavoured sucky. She pinched her leg with her left arm—_the other one was still being held hostage by the very offensive vending machine and slowly starting to go numb_—in hopes of waking herself up from this nightmare.

She blinked; once, twice … nope, the human-faced caterpillar was _still_ there and not looking any happier with her.

"I don't care how you do it. Even if you have to drag that vending machine into class or break your arm, but if you aren't in your seat once the bell rings consider yourself expelled," caterpillar man warned before rolling in the direction of her classroom.

The serious look on his face burned itself into her mind. He really wasn't kidding.

Amber eyes widened once her brain connected the dots. She hadn't recognized him earlier because she had been distracted by his odd getup, but that had been Aizawa Shouta, alias Eraserhead. He was a famous underground hero—an oxymoron of she ever heard one—and one of the few selected teachers at UA Academy.

Honestly, not much was known about him and he probably preferred it that way, but Aiko had always been a big fan of his ever since she found out that he worked closely with the police. Her father had been a detective when he was still alive, one of the best in the force even though he had been quirkless. It was thanks to people like Aizawa-sensei protecting them that the police could do their job.

Maybe she was biased but growing up in a generation ruled by a raving All Might fanbase, she thought the police and underground heroes were kinda getting the short end of the stick. Facing danger in spite of their weaknesses made them equally—if not _more_—amazing in her books. Hopefully, she could be as cool as them some day.

Warmth crawled up her neck and spread across her cheeks once she realized how stupid she must've looked in front of Aizawa-sensei … getting her arm stuck because she wanted a drink … probably looking like she was trying to steal it.

_A low-life delinquent. A petty small town villain._

Leave it to her to make a fool out of herself. If she had a choice, she'd rather avoid him for the time being until he forgot about her existence. However, if her deductions were correct, then him knowing her name and going—more like a mix of rolling and creeping actually—towards her classroom meant that he was going to be her homeroom teacher.

_Homeroom … Expulsion …_

Aiko took a millisecond to internally sob about the unfairness of the universe.

No.

She had to do something.

It couldn't end like this.

After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Aiko activated her quirk and concentrated on keeping her output to a minimum. When her trapped hand began to emit a soft orange glow, the vending machine came to live, groaning as an invisible force bent it to its will.

_Clank._

Not only was her arm free now, but the drink dispenser actually lived up to its name and started to spit out its contents onto the hallway. A colorful assortment of drinks started to pile up in front of the machine, threatening to bury her in a mountain of Mountain Dew. Grabbing a random can of coffee from the floor, the girl didn't waste anymore time and booked it in the general direction of her classroom.

As one might expect, her sense of direction had always been terrible, but due to some miracle the door was gigantic and had the letters 1-A printed all over it. It gave off the impression that the teachers expected some of their students to be directionally challenged.

Ignoring the curious stares of her classmates when she ripped the door open, Aiko raced towards the only free seat in the back. Her heart missed a beat when the bell rung in her ears at the same time her butt touched the chair.

_Silence._

The girl didn't dare move a muscle, pretending that she had been sitting in this particular chair since the dawn of creation.

"I'm glad everyone could make it on time," Aizawa began and shot her a pointed look. A few of her classmates giggled behind their hands when they saw her flinch in her seat and avert her eyes, while the others were too occupied with the apathetic yellow caterpillar. "This is the department of heroics. I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Pleasure meeting you."

_Then why did he sound so bored?_

Emerging from what she now identified as a yellow sleeping bag was their teacher, who looked like he would rather be stuck in hell—or _anywhere_ else—than in this classroom. His dry, dead fish eyes conveyed that much and she couldn't really blame him. After all, she already dreaded this school and she'd only been here for half an hour.

"Wear these immediately," he commanded and handed a stack of neatly pressed gym uniforms to a green-haired boy in the front row. "And then shove off to the P.E. Grounds."

Without further ado, Aizawa left them to their own devices. As soon as the door closed behind him the classroom went wild with noise as though they had been on mute before and someone had just discovered the volume control dial. Gym clothes were handed from row to row while she rubbed her arm absentmindedly. The feeling was slowly starting to return to it, but now it prickled uncomfortably as if thousand needles were having a party inside it.

While she waited for her clothes, Aiko nervously brushed a strand of blond hair behind her ear and observed her surroundings.

Most of her classmates had already formed groups and left the room together to change. They must've started to make friends during the entrance exam or at least before class began. She watched a bubbly brunette girl joke around with a pink-haired alien girl, followed by a cute girl that resembled a frog, who was talking to another girl with incredibly long earlobes and looked like she listened to punk rock. The sensation of being left behind lingered in her chest, making her feel as though someone had attached a dozen weights to her body.

_It looked like they were having fun._

Maybe … they wouldn't mind if she joined them? They seemed friendly enough. Then again, it would be awkward to go over there and interrupt them. It wasn't like she was utterly hopeless when it came to making new friends, however, she had always felt uncomfortable to approach groups that were already friends.

Aiko was so caught up in her train of thought that she didn't even notice the presence before her.

"Hello, I'm Iida Tenya from Soumei Junior High School." The tall stature of a bespectacled boy loomed over her. His neat, dark blue hair was combed to the side and even the rest of his appearance was the textbook definition of prim and proper. She was sure if she opened a dictionary, his photo would be next to the entry for model student.

_Why would he want to talk to her of all people? ... There was only one way to find out._

"Um … hi?"

"I don't mean to intrude on your personal life, but please consider being on time for class in the future. It's disrespectful towards your classmates and it hurts our reputation as the number one heroics course," he declared, "As heroes we need to be role models and punctuality is a necessity for other people to be able to rely on you."

_Oh, that's why._

"I-Iida, aren't you being a little harsh on her?" A mop of curly green hair appeared from behind the poster student. "She doesn't look like the type of person who is late on purpose. A-actually, she looked embarrassed about coming in at the last second."

Aiko threw him a grateful smile, which he slowly returned with one of his own. He seemed rather nervous about the entire situation and she could one hundred percent relate to that. Regardless of his insecurities, he was willing to defend her and she appreciated his effort, though she wondered if he would still jump to her rescue if he knew why she was late in the first place. It made her feel even more ashamed of her tardiness.

"Maybe you're right, Midoriya." Iida mused, eyebrows furrowing together. "I got carried away. It's only our first day after all! I apologize for being so forward!"

All of a sudden, he bowed to her in a perfect ninety degree angle and held the position as though he waited for her to pass judgment on him. He was a really passionate person, no wonder he got accepted into UA.

"No, it's fine … uh Iida-kun … I'm the one who should apologize," Aiko stammered, flailing her arms at the scene he was making. "I didn't want to be late for class, but I got held up by something earlier."

For better or worse, Iida seemed to accept her apology and didn't ask for details. She really appreciated that this didn't turn into a full-blown interrogation, which he definitely seemed capable of conducting. Aiko wasn't very good at lying and she didn't want to lose this rare opportunity to make some friends.

"Well, I'm glad we could come to an agreement," Iida said and quickly returned his upper body to the vertical world. "I look forward to being your classmate … um."

"Oh, r-right you don't know my name yet. I'm Nijima Aiko. Nice to meet you!" Aiko smiled sheepishly, feeling a sense of accomplishment. They may not be friends yet, but it was a start. Maybe she wasn't hopeless after all. The blonde girl turned towards her savior and nodded at him. "You too, Midoriya-kun. Thanks for defending me, that was really cool."

"Y-you think so?!—I mean, it's nice to meet you too, Nijima-san." Midoriya corrected himself, trying to cover red cheeks behind his hand. "We should hurry and get dressed though. Aizawa-sensei doesn't look like he's a very patient person."

Both, Iida and her, nodded in agreement.

Coincidentally, the boy sitting in front of her, who was missing a nose and resembled a rock due to his mutation-type quirk, gently handed over her gym clothes right after Midoriya was done talking. She thanked him and didn't miss the shy smile on his face before waving a temporary goodbye to her classmates.

When Aiko slipped into the empty girl's bathroom across the hallway she decided that even though her first day started terribly, maybe attending UA wasn't so bad after all.

Of course, her newfound hope only lasted a minute or two.

She was in the middle of struggling with her uniform—a fight that would go down in the history books for sure—when she rammed into an invisible wall. Did the air suddenly solidify? Much to her surprise, the wall of air gave in and tumbled to the floor with a very human squeak of surprise.

"Ouch."

Aiko pinched herself.

_No, she was definitely awake and did not imagine that._

Expecting the worst, she slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder and saw a pair of sport pants floating in the air behind her. Wait, was the girl's bathroom haunted?! She definitely wouldn't put it past UA Academy, but she had imagined her first encounter with a spirit a little differently. Ghosts weren't supposed to be solid or get hurt when you bump into them, at least, that's what her compiled experience from books, video games and movies said.

_Was it … one of her classmates?_

"S-sorry, I didn't see you there," Aiko apologized, wincing at her poor choice of words. The pun definitely wasn't intended. "Ah, I didn't mean it like that. You're not invisible … well you clearly are, but not in a bad way. Not that it's bad to be invisible in any way hahaha. It's super cool actually … A-are you okay?"

"Slow down, it's fine. I always forget that I'm completely invisible once my clothes are off," the floating pair of leggings replied, giggling at the shocked expression that was no doubt on her face. "I'm such a dummy."

Aiko was still suspicious. As far as she knew, she didn't invent an imaginary friend for herself to talk to, but maybe the lack of sleep was catching up to her. She definitely needed to ditch the habit of playing video games at night if it lead to hallucinations. First yellow caterpillars and now this.

UA hasn't been kind to her heart and mind so far.

Not entirely convinced that she wasn't talking to a ghost, the blonde girl offered a helping hand in the general direction of the invisible girl. It was a little awkward since she didn't know where to look at or whether her hand was even close enough, but once she felt an invisible force clasp around her fingers, Aiko pulled her up from the ground.

"Thanks. I'm Hagakure Tooru by the way, but you can call me Tooru-chan," the invisible girl exclaimed cheerfully. "I was actually a little nervous to talk to people because I think I frightened Midoriya earlier. I hope we can be friends."

"Then call me Aiko-chan," she replied happily, shaking their still connected hands as if to seal the deal. "Nice to meet you."

Maybe being enrolled at UA would be fun after all.

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**To Be Continued ...**


	2. A Golden Opportunity

Hello there :) Thanks for all the kind reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying this so far.

Also, I had one question while writing that I couldn't find the answer to, not matter what I typed into Google. Maybe you can help me: What do you call those forms that middle schoolers or high schoolers (in Japan) have to fill out for their teacher (or guidance counsellor), concerning their preferred career choice? It nearly drove me insane that I couldn't figure it out. If you know, please let me know in a review so I can correct it :)

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**Chances Chapter Two: A Golden Opportunity**

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"A quirk apprehension test?!" Midoriya Izuku, the green-haired boy from before, yelped and the dread in his voice resonated with her. UA was notorious for being extra in many ways, but Aiko had been looking forward to the entrance ceremony, mainly because she had been hoping to discover the identity of the lunatic who had recommended her.

Of course, as soon as their teacher had made the unwelcome announcement that they were going to skip formalities in favour of physical exercise, she had promptly thrown her secret plan right out of the next available window, along with her hopes and dreams.

It's not like she needed them.

"What about the entrance ceremony?" A cute brunette girl, who had introduced herself as Uraraka Ochako on their way outside, asked worriedly. "And the guidance counsellor meeting!?"

"If you want to be heroes, you don't have time for frilly niceties." Aizawa glowered at them as though that should've been obvious somehow. "You know about this school's reputation for freedom on campus, right? Well, that freedom goes for us teachers too."

After another bone-chilling glare, Aizawa lead them towards an open area and the class swarmed around him like a horde of confused baby ducklings following their strict mother duck. Once they arrived, he held a long monologue about the education system, showering it with scathing criticism. In his humble opinion the rules made by MEXT—the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology—that prevented the use of quirks during P.E. in regular schools bordered on negligence.

Although he was abusing the argument to make his point about freedom on campus and silence their complaints, Aiko found herself agreeing.

If more children trained their quirks in a safe environment, they'd have more control over them once they grow up. It wouldn't only make quirk-related accidents less likely to happen, but improve their self-defence skills to a point where low-level villains weren't much of a threat and casualties would decrease drastically. After all, heroes couldn't cover every part of the country 24/7, and therefore, learning how to protect yourself until help arrived was important and should honestly be taught in every school.

However, the government prohibited public use of quirks.

Unless you were hero material and ticked all the right boxes in the obligatory career path questionnaire, training your quirk seemed like a waste of time and energy to most regular citizen. In a society were you were technically committing a crime by helping an old lady across the street with your quirk—though the police regularly turned a blind eye to such cases—it was only natural that people preferred suppressing their abilities instead of risking a life behind bars.

Nevertheless, it had become increasingly difficult to judge what counted as crime and what as convenience with over eighty percent of the population possessing a variety of unique quirks.

Quirks have evolved and society along with them.

It has gotten to a point were certain powers were so deeply connected with the individual that it bordered on impossible to demand they exercise restraint in their day to day life. After all, mutation-types like Tooru couldn't simply switch off their quirk and change their body with a snap of their fingers—_if they even had any_—and it would be a hate crime to arrest them for the way they were born into this world.

In the end, nobody was entirely sure where the line should be drawn.

"Bakugo." Aizawa called, effectively snapping her back to reality. A boy with spiky, ash blonde hair and a permanent scowl on his face emerged from the crowd. "How far could you pitch a softball in middle school?"

"Sixty-seven meters."

"Use your quirk this time around." Their teacher threw a softball at him and lazily pointed one finger to the white marks on the ground. "As long as you don't leave the circle, anything you do is fine."

"You got it." Bakugo said with a dark yet excited grin as he stretched his arm in preparation and flexed his fingers individually.

Surprisingly, Aiko found herself getting pumped up for the quirk apprehension tests. She wasn't one to show off—_her loving grandpa had beaten any hint of such mentality out of her in the comfort of their family dojo_—but she couldn't wait to find out what kind of quirks her classmates possessed and how they would use them to their advantage.

It reminded her of starting a new video game.

Sure, the tutorial stage usually pissed off experienced games, who couldn't wait to actually start playing and level up their character, and made them impatiently mash the A button. However, Aiko had always cherished the moments when the rules and mechanics of the game were presented to her, quickly followed by character introductions.

There weren't many events in real life that gave her a rush of excitement, but the promise of adventure never failed to make her heart race.

Everyone's level was probably pretty low since her class was only beginning their quest to become heroes. She could see herself as a solid level 5 mob character—_perhaps level 6 if you squinted_—but that was only due to grandpa's spartan Jiu-Jitsu lessons. Regardless, her black belt wouldn't be very useful against her classmates, who probably possessed powerful quirks, and it wasn't like she could count on hers for help.

Absorbed in her thoughts, Aiko flinched when Bakugo reeled his arm back and_ exploded _the softball.

"DIEEEEEE!"

It was gone in a second, accompanied by fire and the smell of nitroglycerin. The shock wave from the explosion blasted a cloud of dust towards his startled classmates, who were shielding themselves with their arms.

_Did he really yell 'die'?!_

Aiko's concern for his psychological state was quickly overshadowed by the realization that she had made a large miscalculation. Thanks to his flashy quirk and the super move in his arsenal, Bakugo had already started maxing out branches of his skill tree and climbed up the ranks to become a level 24 apprentice arsonist … which was around four times her current strength.

At the very least, most of her classmates were wearing similar expressions of awe, fear and shock.

"705.2 meters," Aizawa continued, unperturbed, as if the explosion next to him never happened and held up a measuring device. "You'll be doing eight physical apprehension tests while using your quirks. Once you know what you're capable of, it will form the basis of your hero training."

"Wow, that sounds like fun." Boundless energy radiated off the redhead in front of her, who was grinning from one ear to the other, and his excitement prompted other students to cheer in agreement. "That's the hero course for you!"

Aiko wanted to chime in, but froze mid-cheer once she spotted the dark, scary aura that was beginning to manifest around their teacher. She wouldn't be surprised if he evolved into a demon lord right then and there. As terrifying as facing the final boss in the tutorial stage was, it would definitely be an impressive step up from yellow caterpillar man.

"Fun … you say? What happened to becoming heroes?" Aizawa smiled in a way that sent shivers down her spine. "I guess I'll have to _make_ you take this seriously with a new rule. The student who gets last place will be instantly expelled."

_Seriously?!_

It had barely been an hour and this was already the second time the threat of expulsion was hanging over her head.

"The lowest scorer will be expelled?" Righteously appalled, Ochako was the first to find her voice. "It's only the first day and even if it weren't, that's totally unfair."

"That's _Plus Ultra_. If you were hoping to spent your evenings peacefully at McDonalds, I'm sorry to inform you that you enrolled at the wrong school," Aizawa said, monotonous and cold. "As long as you attend UA you can expect one hardship after another. Overcome trials like this and climb to the top!"

Silence settled over the class like a blanket as they digested his words. Some students like Bakugou and Iida appeared motivated by the challenge, while others like a short boy with grape-like hair and her new friend Tooru were visibly frightened—she could tell by the way her gym uniform was shaking in the air.

"Hey, Aiko-chan. Maybe we understood him wrong?" Tooru whispered nervously from beside her. "Maybe he meant that the person in last place will be expelled from regular lessons to work on their combat skills, so they don't get left in the dust by the rest of the class."

"Um … yeah, sure. 'You will be instantly expelled' is really vague," Aiko muttered. "Totally open for interpretation."

"Ah, I knew it. Well, it was nice knowing you then." Tooru said, sounding defeated. "My quirk doesn't boost any of my physical skills. If I weren't invisible, I'd be a regular high school girl."

Aiko wanted to tell Tooru that she had nothing to worry about because if someone was going to come in last place, it was definitely going to be herself. However, before she could get a word of comfort out, Aizawa apparently decided that they had wasted enough time talking and guided them towards their first trial with a grin that told her he was enjoying their suffering.

_Was it too late to switch over to the All Might fanbase?_

First up on their long training menu was a fifty meter sprint, where those with quirks that increased their speed could shine.

As expected of the model student, Iida nailed the test with the engines on his legs, bursting past the finish line in 3.04 seconds. Bakugo and a guy with unnaturally split hair—one half was red and the other white—finished in four seconds. The latter used his ice quirk to slide towards the finish line in an effortlessly elegant way, earning awed glances from his classmates, herself included.

It looked so cool that it was unfair.

If it wasn't obvious by the intimidating aura surrounding him, the rare and overpowered elemental quirk definitely marked him as one of the other students that got in through recommendations. Aiko wasn't sure whether he was aware of it, but his eyes were even colder than his ice. It made her wonder if he had ever genuinely smiled in his life or whether impersonating a refrigerator came with the territory of having a quirk that could freeze everything.

_No. Stop thinking about others._

Aiko slapped her hands on her cheeks and quickly shook her head. She didn't have the luxury to get distracted.

It was her turn and she wouldn't hear the end of it from grandpa if she did anything less than perfect. Much to her dismay, her race against Aoyama—a flamboyant guy who shot laser beams from his belly button and landed on his butt halfway on the track—ended in a tie. They crossed the finish line after 5.51 seconds, which wasn't bad, but nothing to write home about either.

Maybe she could've squeezed out another second if she hadn't slowed down when he fell, concerned that her quirk had somehow caused his accident. However, Aoyama explained afterwards that he crashed because using his quirk for more than one second would've caused a stomachache, and she immediately regretted ever worrying about him.

Well, there were seven other tests and she could manage hiding one score from grandpa ...

… _hopefully._

Once everyone was done, Aizawa lead them towards the long jump pit. Tsuyu Asui—a friendly girl who insisted on being called by her first name—had a clear advantage with her frog powers and scored an impressive ten meters. Similarly to the fifty meter sprint, Aiko used her quirk on her shoes and the ground beneath her feet, however, when one of her shoe laces came undone she abandoned any thought of perfectionism.

After greeting the sandy pit with her face, she was lucky that she got away with a bruised ego and another average score.

Aiko was still busy shaking the sand out of her blonde hair when a weight, which was supposed to measure her grip strength, was pressed into her right hand. She wasn't particularly strong—in middle school the force of her grip was only thirty-two kilograms—but with the help of her quirk she could possibly exceed her limits.

All she had to do was picture the goal in her mind.

The probability of the device malfunctioning wasn't below zero, nor was the probability of it always working above one hundred percent. If she had to estimate, the chance of it breaking lay somewhere between five to eight percent, considering they were using equipment for beginners, which wasn't the sturdiest.

It wouldn't take a lot of energy to break it.

Well, it was time to make up for the awful impression she left this morning.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled towards the inanimate object before its handle began shaking beneath her fingers. Pieces of metal fell onto the ground next to her white sneakers, reflecting sunlight in her face as if to spite her. Footsteps to her right caught her attention and she froze into her best impression of a stone statue when Aizawa picked up the remains of the device.

"Looks like you have other talents aside from coming late to class," he said with an unreadable expression, holding up the screen that displayed a row of nines. "You broke it."

"Wow, dudette. That's some manly grip strength. You even beat Shouji's 540kg and he totally crushed the handle." The excited redhead from earlier approached her with stars shining in his red eyes. "You must've done some hella crazy training to get a 999.9kg score. I'm Kirishima Eijiro, nice to meet ya."

"Not r-really. My quirk is just good for breaking things." Aiko stammered, surprised by the praise. "I'm Nijima Aiko. Nice t-to meet you too, Kirishima-kun."

"Don't have too much fun now, the quirk apprehension tests aren't over yet." Aizawa warned and placed a hand on her shoulder when she was about to escape into the safety of her classmates—who had subconsciously flocked together to gain herd immunity against their teacher—with Kirishima.

"Not so fast, Nijima. I saw the broken vending machine in the hallway and together with the measurement equipment, this is the second time you damaged school property. One of the first lessons heroes have to learn is that our actions have consequences and to take responsibility for them. However, it's your first day, so I'll conveniently forget this ever happened if you manage to get into the top five."

Aiko wanted to protest, but she quickly swallowed her excuses. He didn't make the offer out of the kindness of his heart. Since there seemed to be a fine line between reward and punishment in this school, there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that only suffering was waiting for her if she refused or failed to rank among the top five in class, which was impossible.

_Aizawa saw her gracefully face-planting into the pit earlier, right?_

There was no way she would be able to secure a spot in the top five, when she barely managed to keep her place among the class' average. However, if she had to choose between punishment now or later, she'd prefer later.

"S-sure. I'll do my best." Aiko regretted the words as soon as they left her lips.

"Smart choice." Aizawa grinned and finally let her go.

_Why did he say that like she just activated his trap card?_

When Aiko rejoined her classmates, who were moving on to the next test, she could feel several calculative pairs of eyes on her back. It was unsettling to be under so much scrutiny, particularly from that ice quirk user. Sticking out and gaining rivals hadn't been on her to-do list. If they were expecting heroic greatness from her, they were in for a disappointment.

Aiko was terrible at handling the pressure that came with living up to expectations.

Next up was the seated toe touch, which wasn't a big deal since she was really flexible. However, she only got mediocre scores for the upper body exercises and the sustained sideways jumps, which the short boy with grape-like hair totally aced. She stuck together with Tooru the entire time, who wasn't faring much better, although she was consistently getting decent results.

Hopefully, the nature of their quirks factored into the evaluation.

The endurance race that followed had Aiko finally convinced that their teacher was actually Satan and had no intentions of teaching them anything. He must've grown bored of watching them run in circles because after fifteen minutes he promptly decided to throw obstacles in their way.

Dodgeball and endurance running were supposed to be two separate kinds of sport.

_What the hell did they do to deserve this?_

When the second medicine ball came hurling in her direction, Aiko simply decided to embrace the pain. Last time she had used her quirk to deflect it and the ball had smacked Bakugo right in the face by accident. She had to admit, his perplexed expression had been funny at first, but her giggles had instantly died in her throat when he made it his mission to explode balls in her direction.

"I said I was sorry," Aiko wailed during their ninth lap, picking up speed. "It wasn't on purpose."

"The hell it was, you klutzy shit!" Bakugo growled, shooting a death glare over his shoulder. "I don't care about your excuses or about whatever the fuck your quirk does. I will win this race!"

"S-sure, whatever." She decided to roll with it since there was no reasoning with him apparently. "It'd be great if you could stop _literally_ bombarding me with medicine balls though. It's bad enough that Aizawa-sensei is aiming at us."

"Are you whimping out on me now? Tsk. Figures," he sneered. "Don't dish out if you can't take it."

Aiko sighed, exasperated. "I already told you it wasn't on purpose."

"Like I care, whimpy shit!" Bakugo repeated, visibly irritated. "Go be a klutz somewhere else and stop bothering me."

If Aiko could, she would like nothing more than to sacrifice third place and put some distance between them, but their teacher's challenge—_it was definitely a threat_—was still hanging over her head, making her feet fly across the track as though the Devil himself was on her heels. Iida was still a couple of meters ahead of them and while she didn't wish Bakugo's wrath on anybody, she prayed he would focus his attention on him instead.

_Please become his target, Iida-kun._

Another medicine ball came hurling in their direction and Aiko ducked just in time for it to go flying over her head, only to watch her life flash before her amber eyes when it headed straight towards Bakugo instead. Of course, he was built with inhuman reflexes that allowed him to sense the attack and twist his upper body around in a split second. He didn't even think about dodging and swiftly caught the ball in one hand like a badass, throwing her a sinister grin.

If he wasn't in the hero course, she'd think he was villain.

"Take this, klutz!"

It was as though the ball flew towards her in slow motion and she knew from its rapid spin that the force of it would send her crashing on the tracks this time. She didn't have time to avoid it, she couldn't outrun it and she definitely didn't want to use her quirk to deflect it.

It was game over.

Aiko was about to accept her fate and braced herself, when a cold breeze blew against her blonde hair from behind. In an instant, the brown medicine ball was frozen in mid-air, suddenly encased in a thick shell of solid ice. Never slowing her pace, she threw a glance over her shoulder to look for her saviour.

She should've expected it, but she was still surprised to meet the indifferent, heterochromatic eyes of the ice quirk user.

"You really saved me there." Aiko mumbled shyly. "Thank you … um?"

"Todoroki Shouto," he said with a frown, ignoring her words of gratitude.

"Thanks, Todoroki-kun."

As though the name or the start of a conversation left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, he passed her without another word and fixated his gaze on something that seemed to exist somewhere even beyond the finish line. It felt like he wasn't really present, running his own kind of race while the rest of the class were merely shadow-like background characters.

Still, Aiko worried that she had offended him somehow.

In the end, Iida and Bakugo tied for first place with Todoroki coming in second, closely followed by Aiko, Tooru and the bubbly alien girl, who had boisterously introduced herself as Ashido Mina.

When everyone lined up for the softball pitch, Aiko noticed Midoriya tremble behind her and after mentally running through the previous test results, she soon realized the reason behind his nerves getting the better of him. He hadn't used his quirk yet and all of his scores had been below the class' average.

Midoriya was currently in last place, so no wonder he was afraid.

Aiko frowned at her own helplessness. He had been nice to her and had defended her against the overzealous Iida. She wanted to repay his kindness, but there was nothing she could do to help him overcome the quirk apprehension tests.

"Do your best, Midoriya-kun. I know you can do it," she said, hoping to sound encouraging, and his head snapped up in surprise. "You got through the entrance exam, right? So if you do your best, I'm sure you'll pass!"

"Y-yeah. You're right."

Midoriya nodded gratefully, but started panicking again once he saw Ochako float the softball into infinity. Zero gravity was really an amazing quirk and Aiko quickly joined her classmates when they praised her for the first truly hero-like score.

Soon after, it was her turn, so she walked into the circle and took the new ball—they hadn't been able to recover Ochako's—into her hands.

_Don't mess up. Don't mess up. Don't_—

"Whoops!"

… _and she messed up._

Similar to her miserable middle school days, the ball had slipped from her fingers at the last second. However, instead of dropping to the ground a few metres behind her, her quirk had amplified the throw and made it hit an unexpected updraft by pure chance, which carried the ball until it landed at negative eighty-three meters. It would be an impressive distance, if it wasn't in the wrong direction.

_Much great. Very plus ultra._

It was definitely one for the record books.

Cheeks flaming, Aiko quickly made her way back to the crowd and settled in between Tooru and Kirishima. He patted her back in an attempt to comfort her. She was grateful, but it didn't stop her from wondering whether Aizawa would deduct eighty-three points from her total score for this incredible failure.

It only took one glance at their teacher, who was scribbling furious notes on her evaluation sheet, to know that he was disappointed in her performance.

_Goodbye, top five. Hello, endless torture._

Much to her dismay, Tooru and Kirishima left her behind to queue for the pitch, making her feel weirdly exposed. However, before she could find comfort by hiding among Ochako and Tsuyu, who had already finished before her, Todoroki approached her.

Mildly surprised, Aiko glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, waiting for him to say anything, but remained quiet as he stood next to her. She found his presence _very_ unnerving, especially since she didn't know his intentions. Maybe he had come to finally tell her what she did to offend him earlier or perhaps it was only a coincidence after all.

A terrifying thought made her heart turn cold.

Maybe he had figured out how her quirk works and was wary of her now. She knew it was only a matter of time until everyone found out, but she thought she could at least enjoy one week in her new school before everything went downhill.

However, Aiko didn't want to jump to conclusions, so she gathered all of her courage and made a second attempt at conversation with him.

"H-hello … er … Todoroki-kun …" she trailed off when he studied her with an expressionless face. "I wanted to say thanks again for earlier … and w-well, I thought I'd introduce myself. I—"

"Nijima Aiko, right?" Todoroki interrupted, voice flat with a hint of curiosity. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I was just curious about the other two students who got recommended."

"Oh. Don't worry about it," Aiko replied dumbfounded. She didn't expect him to be so upfront and polite about it. Relieved that it wasn't anything personal or related to her quirk, she sighed and relaxed next to him. At first glance, he seemed stiff and uptight—intimidating even—but he wasn't a bad person.

"I thought you were angry at me earlier," she admitted, "so I'm glad you aren't."

"Angry?" Todoroki frowned and tilted his head to the side. "Why would I be angry at you?"

"I don't know." Aiko shrugged helplessly, maybe she had been too self-absorbed lately. "You looked like something was bothering you."

"Hmm."

Todoroki seemed to consider her words seriously while she took his silence as an opportunity to observe him. There were small patches of frost on his left cheek that she hadn't seen earlier—possibly a side effect of his quirk—that contrasted the burn scar surrounding his right eye. In the back of her mind, Aiko realized that he was really handsome, which made her wonder where the hell she even got the confidence to talk to him from.

Great. She was nervous for an entirely different reason now.

"How did somebody like you manage to enter this Academy?" Aizawa asked, though he still sounded apathetic. "It defies reason."

Aiko startled and turned her attention back to the softball trial. Struggling like a butterfly in a spiderweb, Midoriya was currently suspended in mid-air by steel-wire bandages. He must've messed up really bad if their low-energy teacher was expending valuable energy for him.

"Looks like Midoriya isn't doing too well," Iida mused. "He did great in the entrance exam. I wonder what's wrong."

"Of course he's not doing well," Bakugo spat, resembling an angry bulldog. "He's fucking quirkless!"

Well, Midoriya wouldn't be able to attend UA if he was quirkless. Still, she wondered why Bakugo would be so specific with his choice of insult, considering that being called quirkless wasn't even an insult to most people. While he came across as a cliché, mean spirited high school bully, he didn't strike her as unintelligent.

There might be a deeper meaning to it.

"I erased your quirk," Aizawa explained, groaning when the captured boy went from terrified to fanboy mode. "From what I observed, you can't reign in its full power. Did you believe someone would save you after you crippled yourself again?"

"N-no, I didn't … I … just ..."

"You have the same brute courage as that guy, but you're using your quirk like a blockhead." Aizawa blinked, which deactivated his quirk, and let Midoriya go. "Try again and this time don't become a victim of your quirk."

Midoriya obeyed, a grim expression on his face as he took another softball in his hands. The entire class watched with bated breath as he drew his arm back for the final throw. He took a deep breath to concentrate and soon after, green sparks sizzled around his hand.

Once the boy was satisfied with the power he stored up, he threw the ball and it disappeared in a flash.

While her classmates watched the softball become a tiny star in the sky, Aiko observed Midoriya with interest. It seemed like he possessed super strength—or something similar—and while that was an absolutely amazing quirk, it obviously had major drawbacks. His finger had swollen to twice its normal size and was slowly turning an angry purple.

It was definitely broken.

"I … I can …" Midoriya said between heavy pants, lips trembling as he clutched his injured finger, "... still … m-move!"

Aizawa grinned as he showed everyone the distance measuring device. "705.3 meters."

The class cheered while Bakugo threw another temper tantrum. In Aiko's humble opinion, he definitely needed to take extra anger management classes—_maybe UA could smuggle them into his curriculum_—and Aizawa seemed to agree since he effortlessly captured the delinquent with his steel bandages before he could launch an attack at poor Midoriya.

As soon as the rest of the class finished the softball pitch, Aizawa calculated their scores and displayed their ranks on a large hologram.

1st Momo Yaoyorozu

2nd Shouto Todoroki

3rd Katsuki Bakugo

4th Tenya Iida

5th Fumikage Tokoyami

6th Mezu Shoji

7th Mashirao Ojirou

8th Eijiro Kirishima

9th Mina Ashido

10th Aiko Nijima

11th Ochako Uraraka

12th Kouji Koda

13th Tsuyu Asui

14th Yuga Aoyama

15th Hanta Sero

16th Denki Kaminari

17th Kyoka Jiro

18th Tooru Hagakure

19th Minoru Mineta

20th Izuku Midoriya

Unfortunately, Aiko hadn't made it into the top five. She got tenth place, which she'd be super excited about if that wouldn't mean facing the punishment their demon teacher had planned for her. Moreover, she didn't believe for one second that his threat of expelling the last student was just a strategy to get them motivated.

At the very least, they had all met his high standards and nobody got expelled, meaning she could continue to be classmates with Tooru and Midoriya.

"Aiko-chan, I'm so glad the two of us made it," Tooru said and she felt two invisible but warm hands envelop hers, swinging them up and down. "It was kinda mean of Aizawa-sensei to scare us all like that, but I'm glad he took the nature of our quirks into consideration after all. It's going to be so much fun."

"Yeah, I can't wait." Aiko meant it with all her heart, but her joy was overshadowed by a sense of dread. "H-hey, Tooru-chan. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." Tooru replied enthusiastically, though she stopped swinging their hands when she noticed her seriousness. "What's wrong? Why do you look so worried?"

"By any chance," she began, lowering her voice as though they were performing a shady deal in a dark street corner, "... do you know how much a vending machine costs?"

"No idea," her invisible—not imaginary—friend whispered back, "but if I had to take a guess, maybe around 500 000 yen? Why?"

"500 000 yen," Aiko repeated, shocked, feeling her soul slowly leave her body and make its way to the afterlife. It might have been a little dramatic, but she swore she saw the ferryman on the river styx, who kind of resembled her grandfather, when the weight of the discovery and the money she would have to pay off pulled her back to reality.

"It was nice knowing you, Tooru-chan."

"Eh?"

* * *

**To Be Continued ...**


End file.
